


To Spin a Dreidel

by shewritesall



Series: Holiday/Seasonal Specials [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Hanukkah, Jewish Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 02:19:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16777699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewritesall/pseuds/shewritesall
Summary: Peter Parker convinces Tony and Pepper to join him and May for the first night of Hanukkah.





	To Spin a Dreidel

**Author's Note:**

> In honour of Hanukkah which begins this year on December 2, I began my Avengers holiday series with a one-shot featuring Jewish Peter. 
> 
> I'm sorry if not all the details are right as I'm not Jewish, but I tried to research as much as I could before writing it so I hope it's close to how Hanukkah really is. Enjoy!

Tony wasn't sure what to expect tonight. Peter had seemed pretty excited for the past few days and when Tony asked why, Peter had explained that Hanukkah was beginning in a few days and he couldn't wait. Tony didn't know much about Hanukkah other than it was celebrated sometime in December by Jewish people, so he asked Peter more about it. By the end of their lab session, Peter had invited him and Pepper to join him and May for the first night. Of course, Tony wasn't going to say no (not that he wanted to anyway), so he told Pepper and she had been reading up on the event for the past two nights. 

"Let's go, Tony!" Pepper yelled up the stairs, balancing on one foot as she pulled her other shoe on. 

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Tony replied, rushing down. He grabbed the keys to one of his less conspicuous cars and he and Pepper took the elevator down to the garage. 

"You read those articles I sent you, right?" Pepper asked, sliding into the passenger seat of the car. Tony climbed in as well and turned on the car. 

"Yeah," Tony answered. He fastened his seat belt then drove out of the garage and onto the street. "I also had FRIDAY find me some more and read them out loud while I worked. Don't worry, I'm not going in blind." 

"Good," Pepper said, nodding then looking out her window at the passing buildings. 

There wasn't as much traffic as usual when they drove through town. Tony figured this was because it was because school hadn't gotten out yet; it was the calm before the storm. They were able to reach the Park apartment at 3:30PM, right as traffic picked up again and schools got out. 

Tony led the way up to the Parker apartment on the second floor of the building and Pepper followed close behind. It was only seconds after he had knocked on the door when it was pulled open and he was met with a grinning May Parker. 

"Come on in," she said, waving them in. Tony could smell something cooking but wasn't sure what it smelled it. "Peter's in his room, but won't be for much longer." 

As if on cue, Peter came rushing into the living room to greet Tony and Pepper. He gave Pepper a giant hug, lifting her off her feet in his excitement. Tony just chuckled at the kid's excitement. Pepper hadn't been at the Tower the last few times Peter had been, so it had been about a week since he'd last seen her. 

"Hey, Peter," Pepper said once she was back on her feet. "You seem excited." 

"Oh yeah!" he exclaimed. "May makes the best _latkes_ in the world but she only ever makes them for _Chanukah,_ but I also really like candles and _dreidel_ _s_ are super fun to play with. Have you ever played with a _dreidel_ , Mr. Stark?" 

"Can't say that I have, Underoos," Mr. Stark replied, smiling at Peter's excited rambling. 

"You'll love it! Come on," Peter said, grabbing hold of Mr. Stark and dragging him into the living room. "I'll show you how to play." 

"I think I know how to spin a top," Mr. Stark said, glancing at the _dreidels_ on the living room table. He picked one up and looked at it closer, noticing there was something inscribed on each side of the _dreidel_. 

"No, Mr. Stark, it's different," Peter said. He pulled out a bag of change and set it on the table, handing a _dreidel_ to Mr. Stark and dumping all the nickles out. He told Mr. Stark that each different inscription stood for a different Hebrew word. He twisted to _dreidel_ around and told him what each stood. 

"Okay, I think I got it," Mr. Stark said. Peter raised an eyebrow at him but sat back and began dividing up the coins. 

Once each coin was divided, he spun his _dreidel_. It landed on _gimmel_ and Peter grinned, looking up at Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark grabbed his _dreidel_ and spun it. It flew off the table and he picked it up to spin again. It landed on _nun_ and Peter smiled. 

"Alright, you get to go first," he told him. Mr. Stark asked why and Peter explained how _nun_ was the highest followed by _gimmel, hey,_ and then _shin._

"Don't forget to put a nickle in the middle," May yelled from the kitchen. Peter's eyes widened at the mention and put a nickle in the centre of the table. Mr. Stark followed suit then spun his _dreidel_ when Peter told him to. 

Peter and Mr. Stark played with the _dreidels_ until May told them it was time to light the _menora_. Tony recognised the word from the various articles he'd read before hand, so he wasn't surprised when May pulled a silver candle stand from a top cupboard. He followed her over to the window sill and stood beside Pepper as May carefully set the _menora_ on the window sill and handed Peter a lighter. 

"You're handing the kid fire?" Tony teased. Peter scowled at him and Tony smirked. 

"I always get to light the _menora_ the first night," he informed Tony. Tony just rolled his eyes and Peter lit the _shamash_ candle (another thing Tony was proud he could recognised thanks to all his research beforehand). 

Tony knew that May and Peter would say at least some sort of blessing in Hebrew, but he wasn't prepared for how smoothly the language seemed to roll off their tongues. He watched in awe as they both recited two different blessings, pausing briefly between them. When they finished, Peter lit the first _menora_ candle and set the _shamash_ candle back in its place. 

"Wow," Pepper breathed beside him. Tony nodded and Peter's grin seemed to never disappear. 

"We only say the first blessing tonight," May told them. She wrapped an arm around Peter's shoulders and smiled at him. "We also sing Peter's favourite hymn _Maoz Tzur_. I printed off the lyrics with how to pronounce the words if you would like them." 

"Of course," Pepper said. May walked into her bedroom and pulled out two pieces of paper. She returned to where Tony, Pepper, and Peter were still standing around the _menora_ and handed one paper to Pepper and one to Tony. 

May led out the hymn and Tony and Pepper stumbled over the pronunciation of each word. When they finished, Pepper apologised for ruining the song but May waved her off. 

"Don't worry about it," she said. "It was your first time and even I still stumble over the words every now and then." 

"Oh," Pepper replied, feeling a little better knowing she hadn't ruined the whole night simply by messing up Peter's favourite hymn. 

"Peter, how about you tell them the story of the first _Chanukah_ you got to light the _menora_ ," May suggested. Peter nodded eagerly then launched into the story about how Uncle Ben let him light the _menora_ for the first time when he was eight years old, only for him to almost burn down the house after seeing a spider in the window and dropping the _shamash_ candle. Needless to say, Tony decided he didn't mind celebrating Hanukkah with the Parkers and he and Pepper visited them every night for the next seven days until Hanukkah was over. 


End file.
